Kuching town! Land of blue skies and fluffy clouds and colorful buildings and loads of grass!
The Spring, the latest mall, I think.
They have random, random green lungs. You’ll pass a few of these empty lots.
No bikes in the bush.
I just liked the color. No compositional value.
We’ve finally reached White Castle!
All with DRO Level 5 on the Sony A700. It boosts the greens to Cameron Highlands-like goodness! So yes, I shot some of these only because of the strong color. I like how you can see clouds anywhere – must be the lack of a concrete skyline.
And here’s one of the big tall tree at Merdeka Square.
1883 A.D.
There is a McDonalds here somewhere.
Kuching Waterfront Bazaar!
Building in building must reflect upon each other!
Yes, I’m quite enjoying the artist’s impression-like look of DRO Level 5.
And since you’ve read this far, guess what? All the images can be clicked for a bigger view. Except one!
As if it wasn’t bad enough that I posted the last entry after 6 days of not posting anything, I won’t be updating till at least the 15th of July 2008!
I’m finally heading to the Rainforest World Music Festival in Kuching, Sarawak. This will be my virgin experience! I’ll come by and visit all you East Siders.
Ah, the video I was looking for! Thanks TDR for geeking out with me and finding this video.
I’ve been invited to a few boycott-petrol-stations and fuel-hike-protest Facebook groups. Honestly, to them, I say, ride with me.
On the bus.
On the LRT.
Cars are a convenience, yes, but they take up so much space. Imagine a packed shopping mall – if everyone drove there in their own car, one shoplot would only fit 2 cars plus the road required to drive into that parking lot.
Now imagine a Vincci. At least 20 ladies and 6 men idling around on the seats (oddly, no metrosexual man would be seen shopping at Vincci.) That would mean that parking lots should be ten times bigger than the shopping complex itself!
Only 20% of Malaysians take public transport – in developed countries, 50% do. Part of this can be blamed on a underdeveloped public transport system… but I also say that Malaysians aren’t supportive. Have you bothered to find out which bus comes to your area?
There is some predictability in the timing of buses. I used to write down the times of the buses that would go to my place, on my phone. Give or take 15 minutes, with a 1 hour space in between buses. After I had understood the system, I could accurately plan my timing; after all, the LRT is very consistent at 2 minutes per stop.
I’m also a heck lot more punctual than my car-dependent friends.
Could I go get a car? Perhaps. But I could retain my position as the “hey how do I get from KLCC to One Utama by public transport?” phone support guy. If it’s not anyone as well-versed, who else would it be?
George started taking the train, and documented some exploits in comics. Hooray!
I Have A Secret
I’m a closet tree-hugger.
I was watching Idiocracy on TV, and after that a scene of a bayou appeared on the screen. I didn’t have any idea what that was about but I was hooked. It was Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. I was sleepy as heck, but for some reason I couldn’t stop watching it. Each time I wanted to retreat and sleep, I thought “I got this far through the show, I’m going to finish watching it.”
Al Gore has an amazing skill – no matter how sleep-inducing he can be, he doesn’t let you sleep.
To make it worse, they showed the add-on documentary after that… but I didn’t last past that.
Two Weapons
I have my monthly RapidKL RM135 all-access bus and LRT pass. It lets me on any RapidKL mode of transport for free and for unlimited rides for an entire month! Knowing that I have this pass encourages me to skimp on taxis unless I am in a rush or am sick.
The other item that lets me travel around is a Touch N Go card. This covers the KL Monorail and KTM Komuter services. I also use it for tolls, if my friends are giving me a lift. After all, they’re paying for a lot more in petrol so I might as well be considerate!
After Midnight
…public transport in Malaysia ceases to operate. But the only reason I’m out after midnight is if I’m clubbing and there’s alcohol involved. So since there are no buses or trains left, I should drive, right?
No, don’t be an idiot, don’t drink and drive.
Have a designated driver who doesn’t drink. The other benefit of this is, you’re carpooling!
Biii-cycle!
Sometimes, I wish I had one of those cool inventions I used to see on Beyond 2000. A bicycle that could fold into a backpack. It’s usually the last mile that isn’t covered so I wish I had a portable bicycle. I could take the bus to 1 Utama, unpack my bicycle and cycle to The Curve in 10 minutes instead of taking a leisurely 20 minute walk.
I seem to take 20 minute walks quite a bit – my walk from the office in Technology Park Malaysia to the Bukit Jalil LRT station is one of them, when I’ve just missed the bus. Or the Segambut KTM station to my house, from say Midvalley – so I can take the KTM instead of taking the LRT to Titiwangsa and then waiting for a bus.
Real walking beats paying for a gym membership and walking on a treadmill. I’m actually heading somewhere, and paying nothing for it!
I Hate Bandar Utama
Yes, I really think that having everything centralized in 2 buildings is dumb. For one, if you have the munchies, you can’t just walk out to grab something from your neighborhood 7-Eleven or mamak. Instead, you have to get into a car and drive and take up a parking lot.
I wonder if the people who drive to 1 Utama from across town curse at the residents of Bandar Utama for taking up a parking space just for a small errand. Or the other way around.
I love how my neighborhood has 7-Elevens, burger stalls, mamaks, restaurants, and grocery stores. If I just want to grab a Coke, I can just walk out of my house. To force people to drive out just for that is ridiculous.
I eagerly awaited my ride in the center of town – Chow Kit.
As I paced back and forth, trying not to look the inhabitants of the road in the eye, I counted the tiles. The tiles were rough, pitted, and had texture. They seem to keep a record of everything that came into contact.
Everything, signed in black.
I could tell that the solid black patches were chewing gum, having served its purpose, spat down to the ground.
The black splashes were drinks that had lost all of its reflectiveness and fluidity. Its color seeped into the tiles, into the pavement, into the bed, the muscle tissue of Kuala Lumpur. Bandung, tebu, soya, orange, tea, oil, phlegm, urine, blood. It did not matter what, for every single stain on the tiling was black.
I kept a steady pace and a wary look. A slight hunch at the neck, to look primordial, to look out, to look alert. I could not help but feel like a pirate, walking the dingy slums of a port. Others sat, their weary buttocks embracing the blackened tiles.
For amusement, the sitters would squash cockroaches that came their way. It did not bother their shoes; the cockroaches don’t squirt juice. And yet, you could see a lack of enthusiasm, like it was formerly a great time-killer to look out for cockroaches to chase and step on.
Some took to more arcane challenges. A Ramli burger wrapper was found in a tree, much much taller than the average inhabitant of Chow Kit. How it got there, was just as much a mystery to me as the black patches were. I could not tell its age, but it was still pink and bright as the day it was packaged.
Perhaps, just perhaps, the kind soul who bought the burger and the wrapper with it, decided to spare it a certain discolored death on the tiles of Chow Kit. That indeed, was the work of a noble heart.
Of course, older screens did badly in sunlight… which is when I realized how good the transreflective screen on the A700 is. You can clearly see the picture (and settings) even in scorching bright sunlight!
Moments like these, you’d wish you had a 10 FPS camera to have twice more frames and a higher likelihood of catching the impact of the frisbee upon his head. Still, you can see the effect of the frisbee. What a classic series of 3 pictures, though!
One very scorching, sunny 14th October 2007, a bunch of us went up to Bentong.
Note the shot would usually have a very underexposed building, but the Sony Alpha 700’s Dynamic Range Optimizer, set on DRO Manual Level 5, has maximum effect here. No Photoshopping other than resize and sharpen.
I don’t know what others see in this picture but I’ll put it up anyway.
17mm F2.8 2 seconds ISO6400 with a cheap infrared-pass filter. Oh, and black-and-white mode.
We headed to Chamang waterfalls, where I then whipped out my Super Aberrator – the misaligned, faulty Sigma 70-210mm F4-5.6! 210mm F6.3.
160mm F8. The chromatic aberration is so thick, it could be used for artistic effect.
200mm F6.3. Note the extremely soft corners!
The jungleman cometh!
135mm F11. KJ and the bokeh that appears to swirl behind him in concentric circles (much easier to see in real life, through the lens.)
210mm F11. Enough of the Super Aberrator already!
Now for some animation.
Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye, at F16, 1/1000s, ISO3200.
DRO was off for 5 FPS burst mode, as DRO would sometimes lag the 5 FPS. However, DRO Level 5 is awesome for extremely bright, contrasty situations, as it brings out the greens. Add that I was in Daylight White Balance for extra effect.
It started to drizzle, so we headed home.
Well, sorta, not before dropping by a restaurant in Gohtong Jaya and discovering that KJ was actually a farmboy. This was actually quite dim evening light. Again, DRO Level 5 brought out the greens to beyond what my favorite Fujifilm Superia could do. I love it!
The rain kept us in the restaurant for a few good hours.
